The invention relates to a drink-item holding apparatus which may, in use, be used to hold a drink-item such as a can of beer. The invention also relates to a portable cooler box which includes the drink-item holding apparatus and which may be used to cool a drink-item before it is removed to be drunk and temporarily stored in the deployed drink-item holding apparatus.
John Manufacturing Limited already produces a portable cooler box which is shown in UK Registered Design No. 3,004,540 and which is also shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the present application.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the portable cooler box 1 comprises a box body 2 with a lid 3 which is hinged to the box body 2 and may be opened and closed to provide access to a cavity 21 in the box body 2. The box body 2 and the lid 3 generally comprise plastic shells containing thermally insulating material. The box body 2 incorporates a refrigeration unit which is used to cool the cavity 21 and which may, for example, be powered via a lead plugged into the cigarette lighter in the dashboard of a car. The box body 2 incorporates air vents 22 at one end for allowing hot air to escape from the refrigeration unit with the hot air usually being blown out of the vents 22 by a cooling fan that forms part of the refrigeration unit.
That end of the box body 22 is also provided with a compartment (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) from which the power lead may be extended when it is needed for use. When the vehicle reaches its destination, and it is desired to take the portable cooler box out of the vehicle (for example, for a picnic), the plug at the end of the power lead will be unplugged form the power point in the vehicle. The power lead may be stuffed back into the compartment in the side of the box body 2 and held therein by a door (not shown) which latches shut.
The refrigeration unit may be switched on and off by using a switch 23. The lid is provided with a latch mechanism 31 which may be released by pulling upwards on a tab 311 in order to disengage the latch mechanism from an undercut recess 24 provided in the top surface of the box body 2.
At the end of the box body 2 remote from the refrigeration unit, the air vents 22 and the switch 23, there is provided a shallow vertical slot 25 which occupies substantially all of the width and height of the end face of the box body.
A drink-item holding apparatus 4 is fitted in the upper part of the vertical slot 25 across the full width of the slot. It comprises a rear wall or back plate 41 from which two side walls 42 project forwards. An upper flap 43 is pivotably mounted between the tops of the side walls 42, and a lower flap 44 is pivotably mounted between the bottoms of the side walls 42. The two flaps 43, 44 are shown stowed in generally vertical positions in FIG. 1, and are shown deployed in generally horizontal positions in FIG. 2. When deployed, a chilled drink-item, such as a can of beer, may be taken out of the refrigerated cavity 21 and placed in the holding apparatus 4 by inserting the drink-item down through one of the circular holes 431 in the upper flap 43, until the base of the drink-item rests on a tab portion 441 of the lower flap 44.
As an alternative to being a beer can, the drink-item could instead be a paper cup that has been filled with a chilled liquid from a bottle stored in the cavity 21. Thus the holding apparatus 4 would function as a cup holder. Two such cups could be placed side by side as is apparent from FIG. 2.
When stowing the lower flap 44 by folding it upwards, an upward force may conveniently be applied to the free edge of the lower flap 44 until it is pivoted round to the generally vertical position shown in FIG. 1. A central edge 442 of the lower flap 44 latches against an undersurface of a projection 411 extending forwards from the planar main face of the rear wall 41. When the other flap 43 is folded upwards, a central edge 432 latches against an undersurface of a central boss 26 of the box body 2 at the top of the slot 25 and at the to of the rear wall 41.
In order to enable the flaps 43, 44 to be latched in the stowed positions shown in FIG. 1, the components of the apparatus 4 are made of plastics material and are resiliently deformable to allow one component to pass over another component to and from a latching position.